Even as Yu Qingtang stood there in stunned disbelief, the whispers around him reached his ears.
“Is that Ye Chenyan of Guiyi Sect? He’s challenging his own senior brother?”
“Wen Rubing has already formed a Nascent Soul. How can this fight possibly be won?”
“Hah. This is perfect. Guiyi Sect is fighting itself. If both sides end up injured, perhaps...”
Li Ling’er narrowed her eyes. Then she drove her sword heavily into the ground with a cold snort.
“Guiyi Sect has always fought whenever we felt like fighting. Anyone who has a problem with that is welcome to step onto the platform and challenge us.”
“Or is someone in a hurry to test this young lady’s sword first?”
Yu Qingtang stood beside her in solemn admiration and applauded.
Li Ling’er grew even more smug and was just about to continue when Yu Qingtang lowered his voice to remind her, “All right, all right. Quit while you’re ahead.”
“Keep provoking them, and someone really will challenge you to a duel.”
“Ahem.” Li Ling’er guiltily looked away and muttered with considerably less conviction, “I wouldn’t be afraid even if someone did challenge me.”
She turned around, clasped her hands behind her back, and stared toward the martial platforms.
“Forget them. Look over there. That fight is about to end.”
Yu Qingtang followed her gaze.
On the platform where the Buddhist sects were fighting among themselves, Baoding had already removed his upper robes, revealing a powerful physique that looked capable of crushing someone to death between his pecs.
Tianhui was small and slight by comparison, but she was not lacking in strength. Every punch she threw left a crater in the martial platform. If the platform had not been able to repair itself, it would probably have been ruined by the time they finished.
Yu Qingtang’s gaze shifted slightly. He leaned toward Li Ling’er and muttered, “They said the Lotus Realm is a secret inheritance of the Buddhist sects. If I pass it on to one of them later, does that make me their master in name?”
Li Ling’er considered it. “I suppose you could count it that way.”
Her expression turned odd. “But why would you want to be their master?”
Yu Qingtang looked troubled. “I was just wondering... Would I have to feed them?”
“Both of them look incredibly sturdy. They seem like they could eat a lot.”
“Even if they only eat vegetarian food, I’m not sure I could afford to keep them.”
Li Ling’er choked on her response. “Your Biehe Sect— Ah! There’s a result!”
Tianhui coughed up blood. Rather than force the fight, she flipped down from the platform in a disheveled landing, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth in irritation, then took a deep breath and returned to her usual calm, benevolent expression.
“I have lost.”
Yu Qingtang looked at her with sympathy.
The Buddhist sects really have it hard. She can’t even bare her teeth whenever she feels like it. She has to manage her expression at all times.
“You were generous.”
Baoding pressed his palms together and bowed. He put his robes back on, then quietly lifted his gaze toward another martial platform.
Ye Chenyan and Wen Rubing had yet to determine a winner.
Yu Qingtang raised his head to watch.
He was not worried about Ye Chenyan. Ye Chenyan was a Long Aotian; challenging someone above his realm was practically routine for him.
Still, Wen Rubing was an entire major realm above him. And besides... Wen Rubing had formed his Nascent Soul under the influence of Yu Qingtang’s Heart-Questioning Melody. Not to boast, but it ought to have been a particularly fine Nascent Soul.
Yu Qingtang could not help feeling a little nervous.
Then again, the swords of Guiyi Sect carried something of the nature of heart swords. A sword reflected its wielder.
Li Ling’er’s sword, for example, was lively and nimble, with the occasional unexpected trick—though most of the time, it was riddled with openings.
Wen Rubing’s sword was not outwardly sharp. Its power was restrained instead, calm as still water on the surface, defusing Ye Chenyan’s fierce attacks time and again.
But...
Ye Chenyan probably was not fighting at full strength either.
Yu Qingtang had cultivated alongside him over the past few days. He had seen Ye Chenyan’s first attempt at combining Heavenly Wolf Tribulation with his spear techniques. He had failed to control the force, and his spear had punched straight through the wall of the cultivation chamber before slamming into the formation restriction, shaking the entire Cultivation Tower.
Whatever else could be said of him, he was excellent at wrecking houses.
Ye Chenyan was holding back. Little by little, he increased the force behind his attacks, his momentum climbing wave after wave until it faintly pressed Wen Rubing down.
“Oh no.” Li Ling’er could not help clenching her fists. “This guy has always been desperate to win. Now he’s competing with his own senior brother. He’d better not get hurt...”
“Maybe...” Yu Qingtang blinked. “Maybe he does not want to go all out against Senior Brother Wen.”
Li Ling’er stared at him as if he had lost his mind.
“Him?”
“He’s a Golden Core cultivator fighting a Nascent Soul cultivator, and he still does not want to go all out?”
She looked Yu Qingtang up and down, then sighed. “You really think too highly of him.”
“Ah, Miss Li, you simply do not understand.” Scholar Xiao approached with a smile, flicking his fan.
He had easily dispatched a challenger earlier and now descended beside them with the unhurried stride of a victor. Lowering his voice, he added, “That is what happens when love makes a hero out of someone in your eyes.”
“Love?” Li Ling’er startled so badly that her gaze swung between them. She nearly choked. “Uh! Th-this... They’re already lovers?”
Yu Qingtang hurriedly shook his head. “Nothing of the sort! Four Books Academy just loves making up gossip!”
“Our Four Books Academy always sticks to the facts,” Scholar Xiao immediately protested. “What I said just now was not quite precise. They are not lovers yet.”
“Brother Ye is simply pining after someone who does not return his feelings.”
Li Ling’er’s eyes widened again.
“Huh?”
“You... he...”
She gestured helplessly, then could only let out an even louder, “Huh?”
Yu Qingtang: “...It is not what you think.”
But he did not seem able to explain what it actually was, either.
Scholar Xiao swayed his fan and sighed to himself. “Ah, such a fine pair of devoted lovers, and yet Miss Yu cultivates the Dao of Emotionlessness. Fate is cruel indeed.”
“It is not just the Dao of Emotionlessness...” Li Ling’er looked profoundly shaken. Staring blankly ahead, she muttered, “No wonder. No wonder he kept hiding it from me. So that’s why... So he...”
She turned toward Yu Qingtang, clearly wanting to say something but unable to force the words out. In the end, she stamped her foot in frustration.
“Ah!”
“But in my experience,” Scholar Xiao said, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes, “those two will definitely...”
Yu Qingtang finally snapped. He grabbed Scholar Xiao by the collar.
“You are not allowed to keep talking nonsense!”
He tried to look fierce as he threatened him. “Careful, or I’ll smash you with my turtle shell—no, with the Lotus Realm!”
Scholar Xiao smiled apologetically. “Ahem. My apologies, my apologies. It is an occupational hazard.”
“It is simply that Miss Yu and Brother Ye’s story deserves a few more pages. Just thinking about it...”
Baoding, who had been standing quietly behind Yu Qingtang like a pillar, suddenly spoke.
“Benefactor, form is emptiness; emptiness is form.”
Scholar Xiao stopped and sighed. “That is why there is never much to write about Dharma Academy.”
His eyes rolled slightly before he let out a soft laugh.
“Though whenever there is something to write about, it is bound to be a matter that shakes the Nine Provinces...”
“Ahem.” Something flashed across Baoding’s mind. His placid expression cracked ever so slightly, and he hurriedly cut him off.
“Let the past remain in the past.”
Yu Qingtang and Li Ling’er both leaned forward at once.
“What happened?”
Scholar Xiao covered his mouth with his fan and smiled as he quietly advertised, “Volume Thirty-Two of Great Experts: The Youthful Years You Didn’t Know About.”
“Heh heh.”
Under Monk Baoding’s faintly murderous stare, he laughed with exaggerated innocence.
Tianhui of White Cloud Nunnery wore an equally vivid expression. She could barely maintain her benevolent composure. With a cold snort, she turned and left, her ears turning red.
Yu Qingtang looked from left to right. He had the feeling that this story had to be spectacular.
That gossip magazine might be worth buying, provided it is not too expensive.
“What spear technique is that? How can it be so domineering?”
Cries of alarm rose all around them. The group hurriedly looked up just in time to see Ye Chenyan bring down his spear in a single strike.
The silver battle spear struck Wen Rubing’s blade, forcing him back several steps. He only barely regained his footing at the edge of the platform.
Wen Rubing’s sword trembled constantly in his hand. He clearly had yet to recover from the exchange.
His expression shifted. He looked up at Ye Chenyan, and his gaze held both approval and faint loneliness.
Lowering his eyes, he brushed a hand over his sword. The trembling gradually subsided. Then he looked up with a smile.
“Excellent spear technique.”
“The sect master once said that you were naturally free-spirited, not someone who could be confined to swordsmanship alone. Perhaps it was better for you not to study the sword after all.”
He sheathed his sword and cupped his hands in salute.
“Junior Brother Ye, I have lost.”
Ye Chenyan withdrew his spear. “You did not lose.”
“You only matched sword techniques with me. You did not use Nascent Soul spiritual power to suppress me.”
Wen Rubing shook his head with a smile. “That was my confidence. I did not need to rely on spiritual power to overpower anyone.”
“Why make excuses for me?”
He turned away, his back easy and unburdened.
“My heart is clear now. I can accept defeat and let it go. I must also thank Miss Yu.”
Then, in a more serious tone, he added, “Do not let her down.”
Standing upon the platform, Ye Chenyan looked down.
Yu Qingtang’s eyes lit up. He jumped and waved at him, smiling with wholehearted sincerity.
Ye Chenyan laughed softly and muttered, “As though I were the one...”
“Hm?” Wen Rubing turned back in confusion.
“Ahem.” Ye Chenyan cleared his throat and gave him a respectful smile. “I understand.”
Wen Rubing nodded in satisfaction, then leaped down from the platform.
On the academy’s golden ranking board, his name was pushed down to second place by Ye Chenyan. The shining characters at the very top changed to—
Ye Chenyan.
Yu Qingtang looked pleased.
The Long Aotian occupied the top, while he occupied the bottom. In a way, that was rather impressive too.
Ye Chenyan looked down from above and issued a challenge.
“Master Baoding, please.”
Baoding raised his eyes without underestimating him. “Would Benefactor Ye like to rest first?”
“No need.” Ye Chenyan stood with his spear in hand. “Come up.”
Monk Baoding did not stand on ceremony. He stepped onto the platform and pressed his palms together, neither arrogant nor humble.
“Please.”
Behind him appeared the solemn phantom of a radiant golden Buddha.
At that moment, Chi Yantian descended from another platform, putting away his twin flaming blades and shaking out his hands with a grimace.
He had just fought a Dharma Academy disciple. He had won, but not without some effort.
“What is Dharma Academy thinking?” Chi Yantian landed beside them and waved his hand carelessly. “What kind of cultivation method do they practice? Every one of them is as hard as a turtle shell.”
He paused and looked at Yu Qingtang.
“But yours is still the toughest.”
Yu Qingtang: “...Thank you for the compliment.”
Chi Yantian crossed his arms and looked toward Baoding.
“He is the prodigy of Dharma Academy’s current generation. He should be the toughest of them all. We shall see whether Ye Chenyan can break through his defense.”
“If he cannot...”
Yu Qingtang remembered that Ye Chenyan had supposedly gone up there to help him throw away the trouble. He did not want Ye Chenyan to gain a reputation for being unable to perform just because he was helping, so he hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
“He did just fight a match. Maybe he is only...”
Before Yu Qingtang could finish, the silver battle spear on the platform unleashed a tide of underworld killing aura that crashed down from above.
Its edge was piercing. Its force was unstoppable.
Everyone heard only one crisp crack.
The Buddha phantom behind Baoding shattered instantly. The monk was nearly sent flying by that single spear strike, tumbling down from the platform in miserable fashion.
Ye Chenyan braced one hand against the platform’s edge and looked down from above. Meeting Yu Qingtang’s vacant stare, he could not stop himself from laughing.
Yu Qingtang raised a trembling finger at him.
“He—he...”
Chi Yantian nodded approvingly. “Looks like his spear is even harder.”
“No! Him!” Yu Qingtang tried to find a witness. “He clearly just said...”
“Is there anyone else who objects?”
Ye Chenyan stood with his spear in hand, amusement in his eyes. The underworld killing aura behind him had not yet faded, and no one dared meet its sharp edge.
“If not, then first place belongs to me.”
The academy great hall fell silent.
Yu Qingtang’s lips trembled slightly. At last, he realized that he had apparently been tricked.
“I object,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “Liar.”
“Ahem.” Ye Chenyan laughed softly, slinging his spear across his back. Then he called out, “Yu Qingtang of Biehe Sect.”
Yu Qingtang jumped in alarm and looked up.
“You heard that too?”
Ye Chenyan smiled at him and crooked a finger.
“Come up.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened in horror. He silently backed up a step, craned his neck, and protested, “I-I-I refuse!”
Li Ling’er’s expression changed at once.
“You cannot possibly be planning to...”
Before she could finish, Chi Yantian slapped Yu Qingtang on the shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance.
“Your turtle shell is tougher than Dharma Academy’s! Do not be afraid of him!”
Then he lifted Yu Qingtang and tossed him straight onto the platform.
“Chi Yantian—” Yu Qingtang wailed. “You!”
Scholar Xiao opened his mouth in astonishment. Slowly turning his head, he could not help praising him.
“Brother Chi, you truly have no sense of romance at all.”
“And yet, somehow, you understand it perfectly.”
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